M. Du Lescöat arrived in Montreal in 1717. He was first the parish priest at Pointe-aux-Trembles (Montreal), in 1718–19, then he was attached to Notre-Dame church in Montreal and was officially priest of the parish from 1725 to 1730. It is believed that it was he who carried on his shoulders the wooden cross that was set up on Mount Royal at that time. Imbued with the spirituality of M. Olier (the founder of the Sulpician order), he was the embodiment of the Sulpician spirit in its first vigour: zeal, humility, charity. He personally taught the guard-house soldiers, whose ignorance was notorious; he visited the sick and the bereaved. As spiritual director of Madame d’Youville [Dufrost*] he inculcated in her a sturdy piety based on the spirit of faith which subsequently was to blossom out in an all-embracing charity.

M. Du Lescöat passed away at 44 years of age. M. Montgolfier*, the superior of the Sulpician seminary in Montreal, wrote in M. Du Lescöat’s record after his death: “He was a great man and a saint. All his life he carried out his duties zealously and successfully.” Popular veneration made his tomb a place of pilgrimage. Several miraculous cures were attributed to him. His maxim for living, inspired by Pascal, was inscribed as his epitaph: “Flee the world, belong to God.”

We acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage. Nous reconnaissons l’appui du gouvernement du Canada par l’entremise du ministère du Patrimoine canadien.